Saying goodbye to Denman Kramer: "This is the story of my friend Denman"

I somehow thought it would all be easier, maybe not so traumatic and perhaps understandable to my heart since my friend Denman Kramer was, after all, 100 years old. It wasn't. It wasn't at all. How could I say goodbye to the man who welcomed me and my son so cheerfully and enthusiastically to our beautiful Water Street community eight years ago? He was my friend, my fellow Optimist, my mentor, my neighbor, my confidante, my anchor in a new life; it just felt like he would be with us forever. I tried singing the Mr. Rogers song to him as the days passed in silence; and it really was "A Beaut...